PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 

Talking  Points 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE 

The  Philippines,  “dropped  in  our  lap”  twenty 
years  ago,  now  stand  before  the  world  as  Ameri- 
ca’s experiment  in  democracy  in  the  Orient. 

B 

Few  people  know  that  Magellan,  sent  out  by 
the  Spanish  King,  was  the  discoverer  of  the 
Philippines  in  1521.  The  islands  were  later  named 
for  King  Philip. 

We  paid  Spain,  in  1899,  $> 20,000,000  for  this 
group  of  3,000  islands,  whose  area  equals  ap- 
proximately that  of  the  New  England  states, 
plus  New  York  and  Delaware. 

S 

Several  hundred  of  them  are  very  small  and 
uninhabited — most  of  the  land  area  is  made  up 
by  eight  of  the  larger  islands  of  the  group — 
Luzon,  Mindanao,  Panay,  Cebu,  Samar,  Min- 
doro, Negros  and  Leyte. 

B 

Luzon  is  larger  than  Pennsylvania;  Mindanao, 
than  Indiana;  Samar  is  nearly  as  large  as  New 
Jersey. 

The  islands  are  sparsely  populated.  About  nine 
million  people  live  where  fifty  millions  could  live. 


2 


Hundreds  of  millions  of  people,  however,  come 
within  the  islands’  sphere  of  influence. 

q a 

RESOURCES 

The  Philippines  have  a fertile  soil  and  a 
bountiful  rainfall.  Vegetation  grows  there  the 
whole  year  round — compare  this  with  land  in  the 
temperate  zone,  where  the  growing  period  is 
only  five  months. 

And  yet  only  about  half  the  land  suitable  for 
raising  sugar  cane  is  under  cultivation,  and  in 
some  years  the  Filipinos  import  several  million 
dollars  worth  of  rice,  when  they  ought  to  be 
exporting  instead.  (iJ 

There  has  been,  however,  definite  advance  in 
the  raising  and  exporting  of  copra,  the  dried  meat 
of  the  cocoanut.  From  1899  to  1915  the  amount 
exported  showed  a ninefold  increase,  with  an 
appreciable  rise  in  value.  Now  the  islands  are 
among  the  leaders  in  copra  production. 

B 

And  the  Philippines  have  a practical  monopoly 
on  abaca — Manila  hemp — which  makes  the 
strongest  cordage  in  the  world,  the  only  kind 
suitable  for  marine  ropes. 

B 

There  is  a future  for  the  Philippines  in  their 
hardwood  forests  if  they  are  conserved  and  de- 
veloped. 

The  total  foreign  trade  of  the  Philippines  in 
the  first  six  months  of  1917  was  larger  than  that 
of  1916  by  eight  and  a half  million  dollars. 


3 


A new  economic  era  lias  begun  for  the  Philip- 
pines, but  we  must  see  to  it  that  low  standards  do 
not  creep  in  and  affect  their  business  honor. 

□ 

America’s  hand  in  the  Philippines  has  wrought 
a century’s  advance  in  twenty  years;  and  has  set 
up  the  first  real  democracy  in  the  East,  a demo- 
cracy which  is  injecting  its  ideas  into  the  thinking 
of  other  Oriental  peoples. 

a 

There  are  38  provinces  or  states  whose  gover- 
nors are  elected  by  the  people.  Civil  service  has 
been  established  and  a Filipino  is  given  pref- 
erence over  an  American  where  he  shows  the 
necessary  qualifications. 

SANITATION  El  0 

Progress  along  the  line  of  sanitation  has  been 
marked.  In  1905  there  was  not  a covered  sewer 
in  the  Philippines.  Now  Manila’s  splendid 
sewer  system  has  caused  it  to  be  known  as  “The 
City  Without  Odors.” 

0 

Smallpox,  once  considered  an  inevitable  child- 
ren’s ailment,  has  been  practically  eradicated. 

0 

The  several  thousand  lepers  have  been  segre- 
gated on  the  island  of  Culion,  where  they  have 
been  allowed  self-government  and  provided  with 
recreation  and  means  of  employment.  Some 
cures  have  been  effected  and  have  continued  for 
five  years.  ^ 

The  death  rate  among  small  children,  however, 
is  still  about  fifty  per  cent. 


4 


EDUCATION 

After  twenty  years,  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the 
Filipinos  are  still  illiterate. 

0 

The  Spanish  inculcated  the  idea  that  labor  was 
menial,  and  the  Roman  church  did  not  encourage 
liberty  of  education. 

0 

American  schools  teach  the  dignity  of  labor  by 
industrial  training  and  improve  the  health  of  the 
nation  by  athletic  sports.  About  eighty  per  cent 
of  the  pupils  now  participate  in  some  form  of 
athletics.  ^ 

Filipino  boys  play  baseball  where  mosquitos 
used  to  meet  to  plan  their  daily  conquest  of  the 

city-  0 

Ten  thousand  Filipino  teachers  now  assist  the 
450  American  teachers.  They  teach  in  English, 
which  in  twenty  years  has  become  better  known 
in  the  polyglot  Philippines  than  Spanish  in  four 
hundred  years.  ^ 

The  Philippine  offering  of  soldiers  to  the 
United  States  in  the  present  war  is  25,000  well- 
drilled  men. 

0 

Subscriptions  to  three  Liberty  Loans  in  the 
Philippines  amount  to  #8,675,000  and  the  sale  of 
treasury  certificates  has  reached  #10,000,000. 

RELIGION 

Evangelization  in  the  Philippines  is  steadily 
going  on,  in  spite  of  heavy  obstacles. 


5 


There  are  sixty-nine  sorts  or  people  in  the 
islands,  speaking  thirty-four  languages  and  about 
a dozen  dialects. 

0 

The  mountains  and  forests  of  the  islands  are 
inhabited  by  various  savage  and  pagan  tribes, 
many  of  whom  are  very  low  in  the  scale  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

And  even  the  Philippines  are  not  free  from  the 
sign  of  the  Crescent.  There  are  half  a million 
Mohammedans,  who  live  chiefly  on  the  island 
of  Mindanao  and  in  the  Sulu  group. 


Gambling  and  cock-fighting  are  common. 

0 

The  superstition  resulting  from  the  Spanish 
friars’  opposition  to  the  progress  of  scientific 
knowledge  has  not  yet  been  eradicated.  During 
Passion  Week  all  over  the  islands  men  still 
practice  flagellation  and  gash  themselves  horribly 
to  gain  the  blessings  of  the  Church. 

0 

Even  on  the  hottest  nights  some  Filipinos  close 
their  windows  while  they  sleep  to  keep  out  evil 
spirits.  Ijj 

Protestant  denominations  have  cooperated  in 
the  Philippines  so  that  evangelical  rather  than 
denominational  work  is  stressed. 

0 

Methodists  are  responsible  for  2,500,000,  a 
large  part  of  Luzon,  the  most  densely  populated 
island. 


6 


Catholicism  has  now  been  repudiated  by  thou- 
sands. A nominal  Romanist,  a leading  citizen 
of  Manila,  recently  stated  that  no  more  than 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  people  were  real  followers 
of  the  Pope.  ^ 

Hon.  John  Barrett,  after  a year  in  Manila, 
said,  “I  believe  the  Philippine  Islands,  perhaps, 
the  most  interesting  and  the  most  fruitful  oppor- 
tunity for  missionary  work  in  any  part  of  the 
world  at  present.  On  account  of  changes  that 
are  coming  in,  the  people  are  looking  out  for 
what  may  be  better  along  the  line  of  religion.” 
0 

In  eighteen  years,  50,000  members  have  been 
enrolled  in  the  Methodist  Church.  Fifty  per 
cent  of  the  work  is  self-supporting. 

Dormitories  or  hostels,  erected  in  college  or 
high  school  centers,  have  done  much  to  influence 
the  students  who  will  later  go  out  to  all  parts  of 
the  islands  and  become  the  leaders  of  the  Filipinos. 
In  the  two  Methodist  dormitories  at  Manila  there 
are  a hundred  boys  and  about  the  same  number 
°f  girls.  a 

There  are  now  twelve  hundred  Methodist 
preachers;  scores  of  others  could  be  put  in  charge 
of  circuits  at  ten  dollars  a month,  if  the  money 
could  be  found. 

“If  we  fail  to  Christianize  the  Filipinos,”  says 
Bishop  W.  F.  Oldham,  “we  shall  fail  to  Christian- 
ize Asia.  If  we  succeed  in  Christianizing  the 
Filipinos  we  shall  succeed  in  all  Asia.” 


7 


Published  by 

The  Centenary  Commission 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

150  Fifth  Avenue 
New  York 


